Friends to the End
My husband and I have always been fans of the television show Friends. We have been fans ever since Friends first existed. When we were just friends ourselves it was a talking point. Then when we became a couple, we watched it religiously together, kept videos of the show and watched episodes again many times over.
And then we indoctrinated our children. J Our children have seen many, many episodes, and Friends remains a show that we can all watch together at any time. It’s funny to hear an 11 year-old, or even a 6 year-old, say, with complete earnestness, “I’ve never seen this one!”
We still discuss it, we can quote lines to each other and we identify entire scenes from a single quoted line.
We watched the complete series from the beginning to the very end. We often discussed both the good things and the absurdities that happened in the show. (All of these beautiful people had trouble getting a relationship??) And we’ve enjoyed watching all the episodes again on various channels.
To this very day, Friends remains a show that almost anyone in my family will watch at almost any time.
To be honest, we are TV and movie people. We have a lot of favourites and know a lot of quotes from a lot of different shows and films.
But Friends will always be special to us. It was a special show, with a unique group of people, and writing like we’d never seen before at that point in our lives. And even 18 years since it all began, it’s still funny and can make us laugh, even when we know all the jokes ahead of time.
No other show has had such longevitity with us or with our children. Sponge Bob may come and go. Lost has definitely gone. (And I still miss it!) But Friends, I feel, will always be with us.
Family Day
One thing my husband and I have instituted a while back is Family Day. At least one day on the weekend, we try to get the whole family out of the house, to do *something*. It doesn't matter what it is -- lunch out, a visit to a coffee shop, a visit to a shopping mall, etc. -- we do something together. Most weeks we succeed in doing so, despite grumblings from certain teenage members of the family now and then. ;-)
Today was one such day. And I really enjoyed it. After a lovely day with my daughter and husband yesterday, an afternoon with my whole famly was wonderful today. (even the grumbles were amusing!)
I know I am lucky to have such amazing children, and I am grateful that it doesn't take a sledgehammer to get them to spend some time with me. But it isn't just Family Days really -- we also do family dinners every night of the week, I was able to get them all downstairs when it was time to decorate the Christmas tree (and with a teenager in the house that is a FEAT!), and there are a number of other things we do together.
That togetherness is important to me, even if it does take some 'encouragement' to make it happen now and then. These are special times, and I treasure them, all the more because I know it can't last. I have a son on the cusp of college and university, another son just moving up into high school and a daughter who thinks she's at least 13. ;-) Time is fleeting and my interval of having them all around me will be done before I know it.
So today, I really relished in family day and made another memory I can look back on in years to come. Plus I had fun with my kids, which always makes a day a good one.
About Me
Leanne BennettI'm an American living in England, married to a Brit and the mother of three children. I work for the local council, building and maintaining servers and networks for primary schools.
I think my background, my citizenship, my experiences and my location give me a unique take on life. Herein are my musings on such...
